Is it ok to go dark every once in a while online? We all need a break and disconnecting can be a form of much needed renewal. So after my 2 month blogging break, I’m now inspired and resolved to follow Tom Pick’s Seven tips to a healthy blog. Of course, the first, and yes most important, is to Post Regularly. Ha, easier said than done.

Saving for your (blog’s) future

I’ve found my blogging shortfall is capturing and organizing ideas. I have an editorial calendar, but find it too constraining. I needed a way to add discipline to the creative process while sticking to my main themes. So I created a Blogging Bank. I don’t know who coined the term (no pun intended) but it’s a great idea.

A Blogging Bank is a place where you spontaneously dump your fabulous creative ideas as they happen. You then periodically survey this random list of thoughts and look for common threads and ideas that can be built out into an interesting piece. You can even organize them into an editorial calendar.

This is an incredibly simple task, but you need to get into the habit of making regular deposits. Here’s how I created my bank account:

I set up a folder on my desktop

I stuck an MS Word file there. It has a table with 3 columns– Main Idea, Theme, Stuff. The Stuff column contains urls, images, quotes, and in some cases rudimentary writing or an intro.

I also dump images, presentation decks and other inspiring raw materials into this folder.

A lot of my aha moments are when I’m away from the keyboard, so I use my voice notes recorder on my SmartPhone to capture for later depositing. Social bookmarking is also valuable, I use StumbleUpon.